Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-05-07


me to dine with him. We had cold roast
elk and bread and ice water. The meal
was served on a blanket spread on the
ground under tree My dog was shut
in the cabin so as not to disturb the birds,
and we sat leaning against the tree, eat
ing and talking. Four parrots hoped
around us. They were pets of my friend.
They were without fear. They stood on
his legs and picked at bread he held in
his hands. 1t was necessary to hold on
to food firmly or they would snatch it
away and fly off with it. Those were the
tamest parrots I ever saw. They came
regularly three times day to my friend 8
house to be fed. He was very fond of
them, and had tanned them by kindness.
When our dinner had been eaten, we
threw the scraps to the birds, and their
inherent greediness was instantly ex-
posed They would seize piece of
bread in each talon and try to pick up
two pieces in their bills, and then over
laden fly heavily to the nearest tree
where they would hide the provisions
then squawkingly declare to their COM
rades that they had nothing, and return
for more.
These birds become so tame that they
boldly enter the miners cabins and hop
around the floor while the men cook
meals. l have seen half dozen of the
bright-eyed birds hopping over my kitchen
floor and squawkingly asking my wife if
she did not think it high time for dinner
or supper.
But there are times when these birds
are great annoyance, and when one has
to hold his temper with firm hand to
keep from killing them. They are pest
around hunters camps when the winters
supply of meat is being laid in. They
follow the sportsman until he kills game
that has to be disembOweled, cut into
quarters, and hung up to cool. Instantly
the parrots come, unbidden, to feast on the
liver and heart and meat. They tear off
he kidney fat, eat the kidneys, and tear
he tenderloin. They are then an annoy
ance. But when | afterward saw them
sitting on trees around our camp fire, or
hopping about twisting their heads, first
on one side, and then on the other, and
gazing at me through their bright, inquisi
tive eyes, forgave them the theft of the
liver and kidney.
Walking home on trail which led
along the base of precipitous bluffs and
through low-lying spruce swamps, where
It was dark and shadowy, my dog put up
from the dense cover two blue grouse,
the largest grouse in the Rocky Noun
tains. / shot them. We crossed streams
on beaver dams and hunted for their bur-
rows unsuccessfully. In one park which
the trail led through there was full-an
TERED buck, and doe with spotted
fawn at her side. These animals whistled
shrilly at us and disappeared.
The sun was low in the west when |
entered dense wood which stood around
a beaver swamp at the head of gulch
about three miles from my home. Under
a high rock, near spring, was an old
tumbled-down cabin. | looked in and
was startled to see indistinctly two large,
white objects standing side by side in the
darkness. Instantly they arose and swept
by me, tanning my face as they passed.
They were two large and almost pure
white owls. l started back and looked
at them fly into the woods Their flight
was almost silent. They seemed to glide
noiselessly through the air. They i'm
pressed me unpleasantly, as though they
were uncanny or spectre-like. | saw
where they had lighted and went to them
to see If had been mistaken in regard
to the silence of their flight. They stood
side by side under a log looking at me
through their great eyes until l was
within twenty feet of them; then they
jumped into the air, tapped their broad
wings once or twice and disappeared
among the trees. They did not make a
particle of noise.
climbed an isolated point, which rose
above the timber, to see the sun sink be-
hind the saw-toothed, snow-capped peaks
of the main range above me. The rug
gedness of the distant mountain TANKS,
and canons, and deep valleys was soft
ened by purplish haze, above which Grim
son bars shot AS | looked the sun dis
appeared, the purple changed to black
and the crimson faded, and night had
descended on the highlands. 1t grew
cold instantly. l heard the faint bugle of
distant elk, and then clambered down
and walked briskly home through a
tangle of shadows cast by the moon and
while the hoar frost was forming.
FRANK WILKESON.